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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694574">Pure</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/gille_og/pseuds/gille_og'>gille_og</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:02:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694574</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/gille_og/pseuds/gille_og</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A third hyuga shinobi trains alongside Neji, Lee and Guy. She finds out that she can carve her own path with the eyes given to her.</p>
<p>For Tenten lovers: Sorry but she replaces Tenten!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So its true? You will let us participate in this years Chunin Selection Exams?”</p>
<p>Lee’s eyes dwelled up with tears when he saw Sensei Guys reaction. ‘Hardly surprising, to be honest. We are basically a year ahead on all the other students.’, but she kept that thought to herself and just took in the joy of Lees excitement.</p>
<p>“Hear that Neji? We will finally reach another step towards the pinnacle of youth! We will not disappoint you Sensei, I promise! Or I will take at least a couple hundred lapses around the village, backwards of course!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The aforementioned Hyuga just watched solemnly as always, although if accustomed to him, you could see behind his mask - a little frustration (which was not particularly strange, Lee is even more ‘youthful’ than most times), but his eyes revealed the tiniest bit of anticipation. Even he was eager to test his skills against the other genin of the village.</p>
<p>“When is the beginning of the exams? Since we will probably advance very far, we might need additional training from our clan.”, which he said while looking at me.</p>
<p>My pale, white eyes met his gaze. They were trained equally by Hiashi on her request - or rather, because of her mother. She and Hiashi were best friends for an eternity, and despite Neji’s contempt for Hiashi, he accepted the necessity of training with him to become better.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m sure we can convince Hiashi to spend extra time with us once we will be successful.”, she stated calmly. Although she dared not to wonder if Hiashi would start to favour him or her once they advanced to the final part of the Exam, she did make a mental note on asking Sensei Guy for something later on. She needed to gain an edge quickly, or else Neji would easily surpass her - and while she accepted that Neji was a genius and capable of beating anyone, she still liked to try her best to keep up with him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I presume the first part will be a written test? I hope you did not forget your studying while trying to destroy every tree around Konoha while training Lee?”</p>
<p>“Nevermind me, Jentori! My head is filled to the brim, I will take that test and get full points before you can even blink!” He was still jumping up and down for a full 5 minutes now; and Guy looked like he was about to jump right beside him. Indeed, her suspicions were corrected when he explained “Well that was the message, now lets get to our daily training! Sparring in duos, as per usual!”</p>
<p>With that, he and Lee started to jump to their favourite spot under a waterfall, where the heavy water under which they fought would enhance the effect of the Taijutsu training by making it harder to execute. Additionally, they would not smell as much.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Are you ready, Jentori?”</p>
<p>I turned and looked at him, already standing in the traditional starting form of the Gentle Fist style. I turned on my right heel in one motion towards him and dropped into stance, nodding.</p>
<p>“Byakugan!””Byakugan!”</p>
<p>Veins thickened on their temples as their eyes activated. In blurring motions, they charged towards each other, their chakra pathways clearly visible for the other. Jentori had the edge here; she took particular care of her visual training, granting her more precise images and less concentration needed while observing. There was a price to everything, however, as she quickly realised (again) when she dropped into defense before Neji’s onslaught of attacks.</p>
<p>Her blocks had to be fast and efficient, otherwise he would overwhelm her. Using her palms and elbows when needed, she defended against the barrage of her relatives fists. She deflected his palm, almost connected with his forearm before realigning her left arm to counter his upcoming strike into her stomach. She realised her mistake; her reaction was intended to let her lead into an own attack, but now she was open - something that Neji capitalised on excessively quick. His eyes narrowed again, and while he himself was quiet, his eyes had an intensity she only saw when sparring with him.</p>
<p>Here he comes.</p>
<p>2 palms. A stab to her right side, a straight palm close to her temple.</p>
<p>2 palms. He double pressured her left side before angling downwards, reaching for her right thigh in quick stabbing motions of his finger tips. She could see the chakra spreading outwards to cut her chakra pathways, but he was focussing to much on the execution of the strike to perfect his chakra usage.</p>
<p>4 palms. The most difficult sequence for her; she struggled in finding the right conversion of speed. The 4th hit connected with her shoulder, and she could feel the energy pulsing from his finger tips - but before it paralysed her chakra node, she batted his hand away.</p>
<p>8 palms. In training, he would not go farther than this, but she was absolutely sure that he could go up to the full 64 palm technique. But since she successfully managed to deflect the 8 palms, she was confident to survive. Indeed, she already foresaw his slowing down between the 14th and 15th hit, and prepared for her own manoeuvre.</p>
<p>Exiting the 64 palm technique without paralysing the opponent meant a downfall in speed for the user. Someone like Neji was already accustomed to make the exit as gentle as possible - but she was skilled enough to use the short moment to her advantage.</p>
<p>Two quick strikes towards the upper body, he moved one step back on his right leg. A swipe to his left leg, forcing a block; a high palm that would make him straighten up while defending.</p>
<p>There it was. Chakra slowly gathered in her palm, much more than for a normal gentle fist punch. Neji sensed it, but was to slow to change his stance to gain better standing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!”</p>
<p>Chakra left her hand forcefully, creating a blast of wind that attacked Nejis lower body. She noticed him trying to defend by erupting chakra out of his lower body nodes - a technique that would someday look like the Palms Revolving Heaven that Hiashi was capable of. For now however, he was not a master of it, and the air still pushed him backwards and almost made him fall over.</p>
<p>Both of them breathed quickly now; they were not exhausted by any means, but their sparring was very intense, neither of them wanting to fall behind the other. Neji nodded before his demeanour changed completely, dropping into a meditative stance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jentori smiled. Here she was more comfortable than Neji; training your range and precision with your Byakugan was her field of expertise. She already could see a good 100 meters, something that astonished Hiashi and other seasoned clan members. Sensory capabilities like that are unusual for Hyugas; Neji had a vision radius of roughly 50 meters, which to be honest was in a sense more impressive - despite her getting much more training, he was still way to close for her taste. But at the same time, she could not not be happy for him that he was blessed with so much talent.</p>
<p>They started to count the targets they could oversee in the forest around them; daily, Guy and Lee would hide little figures for them to find and locate. Jentoris mother however gave her another task - while looking for the small objects, she should try to start and sense for small life forms like birds and other animals to see if she could locate them. While every being had a chakra network to observe, some shinobi were capable of concealing it - something that could be overcome by greater focus and concentration on Jentoris part.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Her mind wandered off for a bit, having already counted her 56 figures for the day. In her mind, she visualised herself and Neji sitting opposite of each other. Of equal height, they shared some characteristics in their visual attire - both favoured the white clothes of their clan, both of them braided their hair to keep it from distracting you in combat. While Nejis was brown, however, hers was red - brightly so, like leaves in autumn shortly before they fall, a courtesy of her mother. It fitted her pale skin and tall physique, and her father liked to tell that she clearly inherited the will of fire - with a bit of glee in his eyes. She also did not carry the same binding seal as she was part of the main house of the clan - something that still stood between the two of them from time to time, although Neji did not show her the same contempt as he did to Hinata. Jentori, for her part, could understand her relatives resentment - but could also acknowledge that Hinata was not responsible for anything that happened. It was not a conflict destined to end this very afternoon, nor in the coming weeks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jentori breathed out. A calmness spread through her, as always when she had the time to focus on her sight. The coming weeks would be hard on them, but she knew they would succeed as a team - they had a slight age advantage and were trained properly. But a great deal of known genin would participate - Sasuke Uchiha, the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, and the team that Hinata was a member of, as well as the shinobi from the other villages.</p>
<p>Her hands twitched. Even she could not contain her excitement, and she was eager to go again. Refocussing on her surroundings, she was not surprised to see Neji already in battle stance.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A week after the announcement</p><p>She put down her small mug filled with tea. It had a fruity, sweet note, one she preferred to the bitter brews most clan members enjoyed. Hinata beside her was quiet, but she could sense that there was something on her mind. Whenever not around the other hyugas, Jentori tried her best to get her to open up, which proved to be difficult but worthwhile.<br/>She chose to be silent - a method that worked for her most of the time.</p><p>“I’m just so nervous recently. Sensei Kurenai overestimates us…I would have been contempt with waiting another year.”, she finally expressed quietly.<br/>Jentori looked at her directly. She wanted to disagree with her, but her pause did not mean she was finished. Instead, she reached for the tea again, tilted her head slightly to the left, indicating her readiness to listen further.<br/>“But Kiba is really excited, and even Shino is more agitated than usual. But I might face you in the Exams, or worse.” </p><p>While it was a sad circumstance, it was easy to realise who she was talking about. Hiashi agreed to additional training, but only if everyone of the genin plus Hanabi would participate. Especially for the younger girls that was quite the task, since she and Neji were ahead when it came to skill. Even worse, Hiashi was unusually adamant about Neji and Hinata sparring with each other - it seems that he desperately wants his daughter to show the same kind of talent and prowess that Neji possesses, something that is unfair to demand.</p><p>“Nothing will happen to you. You are strong, Hinata. I know that Hiashi or your own head won’t see it that way, but I do. And so do your teammates. Trust them.”, she declared warmly while placing her hand on Hinatas.<br/>She nodded shyly, but Jentori could see that she was thankful for her words. She never quite understood Hiashis harshness - sure, Neji and she were faster and more skilled, but Hinata had an unending amount of compassion and patience; something that she loved dearly about her. She cared for her teammates, for this other genin called Naruto that she spent time observing, and for her family - she went to immense lengths to cherish them, and while her family might not be thankful for it, she noticed how her teammates and Sensei adored her for it whenever she saw them.</p><p>“Are you not afraid, Jen?”<br/>She wondered about that. She shook her head once, not quite sure how to formulate a more fitting answer.<br/>“I don’t mean to offend, you know. Its just, everyone worries to some degree and you are still just…you. You’re still here every weekend for our tea, you train Hanabi, spar with Neji, you tend to the flowers in the main garden, and I never catch you being nervous or anything. Even Neji seems more agitated in training, even by a little bit.”</p><p>It was true, she really did not feel incredibly different knowing that in less than 1 or 2 months, she could technically already be a chunin. The written test was next week, and right after that the practical test would begin - and should she succeed in that, the last round would start in one month from now.<br/>Sensei Guy once declared that her temper was that of a gentle summer river - collected, warm, always flowing. While she did not appreciate the poetry, because lets face it, it was not very sophisticated one, she accepted its meaning. <br/>She was nervous, yes, but she did not let that conquer her or her mindset. She was succesful with her request to Guy, and should she succeed in getting to the last round, he would fulfil it gladly - which meant she had something to look forward, and even better, something that strengthened her resolve.<br/>“I suppose it is not in my nature to show it, but I’m not free of any fear. I could fail.” She looked at Hinata, with a solemn expression on her face. “But I will try my best and l see how far that may get me. But if somebody does not stay relaxed during training, I think I might go crazy with the two of you.” With that, she smiled at her gleefully before hugging her, wishing her a good night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>a late evening in the hyuga training hall</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Only the sounds of air halved by flying fists and palms filled the hall at this hour. It was a rare opportunity for Neji and Jentori to practice without anyone watching, and the last night before the written exam.</p><p>After having sparred for a few hours already, she could see that her visual training and additional meditation had another interesting benefit. Her chakra reserves were beginning to grow bigger than Nejis, or his usage was just not as precise - either way, he started to exhaust just a little bit faster. It was her time to attack.</p><p> </p><p>The veins on her temple thickened, and in her mind, she used every fiber of her body to predict his movements correctly, to solve the puzzle of his defense and deliver a winning blow.</p><p>2 sharp stabs with her right hand towards his head. A left palm, aiming for his legs. Continuing the pressure with her right hand, blocking his counter attack on her left side, a quick blow to his stretched forearm. His eyes sharpened. She attacked his arm, again, with 3 decisive strikes before changing direction to his chest. Chakra emerged in both of their visions, almost like tendrils out of her fingertips to reach for his chakra nodes. Mimicking a delicate dance, she went through a routine she practiced for a few weeks now, not quick and flashy like the 64 palm technique, but each successive hit flowing into another, a complete mechanical separation from mind and body, which allowed her to focus on gathering chakra in both of her hands instead of one.</p><p>“Eight Trigrams: Twin Vacuum Palms!”</p><p>For an instant, Neji looked in awe, but quickly realised his need of defense else the combat was finished. He turned into a stance only shown by Hiashi so far, and Jentori quickly realised that she was not the only one who secretly mastered advanced jutsu.</p><p>“Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven!”</p><p>With that, she saw the chakra exploding from his chakra nodes, forcing her vacuum palm technique to be blocked by the sheer force of his body rotation. She dropped her stance when she saw him emerging from the rotation technique.</p><p> </p><p>They looked at each other, silently judging the other.</p><p>“Not a move Hiashi would teach you.”</p><p>“I practiced it myself. I need the range against you and Lee to compete.”</p><p>He acknowledged that. Both of them knew when it came strictly to Taijutsu, Lee and Neji were better. Not by unsurpassable lengths, and on a good day she could compete with them without a doubt - but there was a difference.</p><p> </p><p>They went to a small table set up with refreshments and towels for the sweat. They never talked much during these sessions, yet Jentori still felt the closest to Neji of all of her friends, even despite his anger towards her because of her affiliation to the main house, and she knew that he greatly valued her opinion and ideas. Still, the resentment was always there, and in some nights, it left the room with an uncomfortable silence.</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>He looked at her, a wordless question in his eyes.</p><p>“I did not only practice it, I have something in mind to improve it. Greatly, maybe. But if I am correct, I can’t practice with you and your cousins in the coming weeks since I need the time to perfect it before the final exam.”</p><p>He narrowed his eyes. There was an accusation in his gaze, one she knew contained a bit of truth - that her leaving meant that Hiashi would train him more exclusively, but also that he had to endure the possibility of him enforcing the seal.</p><p>He looked down at the towel in his hand, his movement frozen in place. His other hand slowly moved towards where the seal was hidden on his forehead.</p><p>“I hope your training bears fruit. For me, nothing changes- as it never does.” A deep sense of resignation hummed through his words.</p><p>“It is only for a few weeks, and I will still attend as often as I can, I promise.”</p><p>“You know it won’t make a difference.”</p><p>She knew. Once he was alone with Hinata to spar, it would be up to Hiashi to decide when Neji pushed to far or when Hinata did not move along fast enough - but both of them would suffer.</p><p> </p><p>“Still. I need to see this through, or else you will forever be the one marching ahead.”</p><p>“I will never be far ahead in this cage of mine. You need but to ask and Hiashi would teach you more clan jutsus.”</p><p>“I never willingly learned a technique from him that he would not teach to you.”</p><p>He looked at me, his eyes closed, his face a tale of suffering, of the activated seal that renders you immobilised and leaves you screaming in agony.</p><p>He looked at me, all of his features now silent. His mask was on once again, and he turned to leave.</p><p>“Except the one they teach to all of you.”, and the hand he waved at her to leave, for a split-second, had a mocking imitation of the handsign that haunted his dreams.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Proving herself</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The preliminary rounds have started, and Jentori faces her opponent in a short, but intense fight.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>In the middle of the preliminary rounds</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The exams themselves were easy. The written test was a joke for the 2 byakugan-users, as was the trick question they were asked. What followed was, at least for their team who spent a great deal of time on missions more than the rest, another advantageous opportunity to shine. Lee did manage to get himself into trouble over the girl from team 7, Sakura, but Neji and she decided to step in.</p>
<p>Both of them quickly realised the strange sensation of chakra coming from the Uchiha genin. That was definitely not normal, and they would ask Guy about it in a quiet minute. But their presence at least saved Sasuke enough time to deal with his enemies and save his team.</p>
<p>After that, acquiring the scrolls was not hard either. Not even Hinatas team 10 could match her scouting capabilities, and they were one of the fastest teams due to all the taijutsu training with Guy. As the first to arrive, they had ample time to rest and eat before the announcement came in: There was a preliminary round before the final round because of the amount of participants that made it through.The first 4 fights were over.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Which was the reason she now stood in front of the blonde girl from Sunagakure, Temari. Her great battle-fan in hand, she awaited the signal of the proctor to start. Jentori noticed the eyes of her teammates in her back, reassuring, but they quickly faded away. All that she saw now was the strong, toned hands and arms of her opponent, the sharp movements of the fan, and the composed stance in which she waited for Jen to make the first move.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Begin!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Temari was a long-range opponent. Getting close means evading the blunt force of her wind-style jutsu long enough to get a good strike in. Her fan immediately opened, and with her muscles bulging, she lifted it up and created a gust of wind into her direction. Her byakugan revealed that there was chakra flowing from her hands that enforced the weapon, otherwise this feat would have been impossible to pull off.</p>
<p>She changed into a low stance and stood sideways, so that she left the wind with only a small amount of body mass to attack. When it died down, Jen closed the distance, now directly in front of Temari.</p>
<p>2 palms, hurriedly parried by the fan, rushed against Temari. Before she could pick up speed to finish her off, she prepared to block a blunt strike with the fan - only to realise her mistake when Temari opened it up shortly before impact, generating another gust of wind that pushed her back several meters to almost the end of the room, but still standing on her feet.</p>
<p>Still, she used almost no chakra so far, while Temari was at least panting a bit faster. Time for a change of pace. She drew 3 kunai from her bag and threw them towards temari before sprinting into her direction as well. Blocking the knives left her with enough time to cover some additional ground, and as she saw the chakra flowing through the forearms of the sand-ninja, she quickly bolted sideways and evaded most of the wind. As soon as she felt safe, she turned again towards Temari. With her byakugan, she saw that Temari prepared a different technique, probably a stronger version of what she did before.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Indeed, before she could close enough distance, she heard her scream “Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!” and instead of the breeze from before, this felt like a whole spring storm entered the arena. Jentori was blasted from the ground, trying to stabilise in the air by flailing her arms, and landed hard on the ground at the point she just started.</p>
<p>She checked for any internal damage, but other than some bruises, she would be fine. As she stood up, she noticed that some of the genin thought this fight over, but Temari was hyper-focussed. She knew that Jen was only testing the waters while minimizing damage. Whats worse, the Wind Scythe is not an easy jutsu and it drains chakra reserves, leaving her more vulnerable than before.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jen stood up straight, watching her opponent carefully. Her mind was made up: She would have to see how Temaris next defensive move would look like. If she used her Wind Scythe immediately, Jen would need to make sure that she takes close to no damage or this fight could turn ugly. If she resolves on her simpler technique, she could finish the fight.</p>
<p>Her heart beat picked up speed, as did her feet. Her mind raced through all the different options of how to act, the eyes of her teachers, her teammates, and then back again to the focus of her own temporal universe, where only she and Temari were important, only their actions mattered. When time sped up again, a small world collapsed.</p>
<p>Temari sent a regular gust of wind, sealing her fate. Jen focussed chakra in the nodes centered in her arms, creating a small blast of chakra. With the diminished force of the blow from her opponent, this was enough to slice through the blast with ease, which meant Jen did not even have to slow down while running towards her and preparing her next move.</p>
<p>The blonde sand-shinobi noticed it too late and tried to quickly prepare her jutsu, but proved to be too slow.</p>
<p>“Eight Trigrams: Twin Vacuum Palms!”</p>
<p>With Temari being distracted, she could not raise her fan before the focussed gust of compressed air created by chakra and the gentle fist style would hit her into the chest, blowing her back hard. Any chance of recovery was ruined by Jen appearing in front of her, hitting her several times in both arms with quick, efficient movements perfected by her delicate chakra control - and Temari felt her fan drop to the floor as every feeling in her hands disappeared. She was not able to continue combat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“The winner is: Jentori Hyuga!”</p>
<p>Temari looked at her, angry, but with the tiniest bit of admiration as well. She nodded at Jentori, who made a short bow and pressed both of her former opponents arms to gently help the chakra flow return.</p>
<p>“That should help alleviate the numbness.”</p>
<p>“I guess I’ll have to thank you for that. Next time I won’t go easy on you.”<br/>Jentori simply nodded solemnly before she went to the door leading to the resting area. As she left the room, however, she heard the announcement for the next fight.</p>
<p>“Neji Hyuga against Hinata Hyuga!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Breakthrough</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After a fierce battle between Neji and Hinata, the older genin is confronted by Team Guy.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>In the waiting room area, with team Guy present</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Both of them took their turns demanding answers from him, but she could sense that Lees and Guys fury meant nothing to the young hyuga.</p><p>“Guy. Lee.”</p><p>They stopped in their speeches, looking at her, confused of her tone of choice - a tender, apologetic one.</p><p>“Could you give me a minute with him? Alone, preferably?”</p><p>“But Jentori! He did way more damage to Hinata than necessary, something that is not acceptable for our spirit of youth! Yes competition is something to chase after, but this was clearly not a deserved…”</p><p>She knew the rest, so she calmly stepped forwards and interrupted him with a quick, but gentle pad on his shoulder.</p><p>“Lee. I know what you want to say, and you are a good person - its just something that is more complex than it seems.”</p><p>Sensei Guy looked at her, but seemed convinced enough of her that, after a quick glance at Neji leaning on the wall, he nodded at her and took Lee with him.</p><p>“Alright, Jentori. As your sensei, I trust that you will find common ground with him. Lee, lets go.”</p><p> </p><p>When they were gone, she breathed in deeply to give rest to the turmoil inside her head. Neji might have wounded Hinata, almost mortally, but she would survive on the account of the medic-nin. But her brave words scared him, left him feel assaulted - and he would respond only with anger to that, because what choice did he really have?</p><p>She needed to show him something.</p><p>“Follow me, Neji.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>A few minutes later</em>
</p><p> </p><p>They were out of the building on one of the training grounds. It was a quiet, serene forest when the exams did not take place - in a stark contrast to the things happening inside the building. But her focus was on nothing now, nothing except her relative, her best friend in a weird way, staring at her in confusion.</p><p>She dropped into the Gentle Fist stance. He paused for the briefest of moments, but then followed suit.</p><p>As he approached, she startled him greatly - because for the first time, her eyes revealed something that not a great deal of people deservedly saw from her, because it was something she herself did not feel very often.</p><p>It was a furious devotion to prove a point.</p><p> </p><p>“Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!”</p><p>Before Neji could even make two steps towards her, the blast had already hit him into his abdomen. The force of the blow was impressive, but what shocked him next is that she already prepared another one in the moment of him getting back into his stance.</p><p>“Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!”</p><p>Now, Neji dropped to the floor and rolled one time onto his back.</p><p>“You knew that you outclassed her.”</p><p>The calm voice only trembled for a slight moment, but seemed to irritate Neji, whose long, brown hair was now messy - because of their fight and the one before.</p><p>“You knew that, yet you still continued after she was beaten.”</p><p>“She would never know how I felt hearing her words!”</p><p>“Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!”</p><p>Just as he ended his sentence, the next gust hit him just before he started to make a run for her. Pummeling his shoulders, he barely was on his feet as she was readying herself for another blow.</p><p>“And how could she if all you did was show your contempt for her? For somebody who is not responsible for your fate?”</p><p>“My fate is not my own, as is yours and everyone else’s! Your family caged me against my will!”</p><p>“Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!”</p><p>He fell to the ground again, disoriented by the barrage of assault. He felt the advantages of her training, because despite the day she had, she still had this much energy to use.</p><p>“Its not my family, its ours! You are my kin, and I would never do something to you you did not deserve!”</p><p>“Then what do you call this all?” he screamed at her before lunging at her again, in an uncontrolled, wild way.</p><p> </p><p>“Opening your eyes.” And with that, she charged at him as well. In a blurring motion, their gentle fist styles led to explosions of chakra along their bodies, neither of them taking any direct hits. Even after a day with both of them sparring against formidable opponents, their stamina (due to their hyuga heritage and byakugan training) was keeping the fight intense. Palms strikes shook the air next to Nejis head, and he quickly felt cornered. It was one of those days where Jentoris quiet, intense style reached new heights. His defence was quickly reduced to catching up to her dancing palms, tricking his talented vision into thinking of her as having multiple arms.</p><p> </p><p>“You can always choose! Why not choose kindness, and accept Hinata as your loving cousin?”</p><p>“No loving cousin would accept to seal their relatives and have their fathers murdered!”</p><p>“She did not, and neither did I! Hiashi is cruel and wrong, but maybe he was forced to do it! Did you know what happened back then? Truly?”</p><p>“I know that my father is dead and that that very seal on my forehead and the pain that I suffered left me with almost no memory of him!”<br/>Her speed picked up again, now getting strikes through to his chakra network.</p><p>“And your response is to hurt the members of your family that are still there? To fight against people who care for you?”</p><p>Another blow against his right arm rendered it useless, and only his left was still blocking weakly. His face was distorted with anger, his eyes more intense than ever before.</p><p>“Then why did you not stop me earlier? Why not use the wretched seal that stains your every word?”</p><p>Quickly, she pressed her two hands together as she tried to not only compress the chakra-infused air between them, but also the very idea she tried to convey.</p><p>“Eight Trigrams: Twin Vacuum Palm!”</p><p>Out of nowhere, he was blown away by the force of impact that left him momentarily stunned on the ground. As he regained vision and air in his lungs, he felt her hand on his collar, drawing him upwards to her. As he looked at her in the perishing sunlight, red hair framing her face, he simply lacked the willpower to oppose her any longer.</p><p> </p><p>“I never learned the sign for it.”</p><p>Her byakugan faded at the same time as his jaw slightly opened.</p><p>“My parents teached me what it meant, and I said no. I’ve never accepted it, and I never will. Nor did Hinata. Hiashi tried it, but we would refuse every time. You think no one chooses their path? Maybe that is true, but then accept me as destined to stop you, because I will not have you treat Hinata like that again!”</p><p>A single tear rolled down her eye and dropped onto her robes. Her expression changed somewhat, became more gentle.</p><p>“And I will not have you treat yourself like that again.”</p><p>She hugged him closely, and while he was still unable to respond properly, she felt his head nestle onto her shoulder for a brief moment.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>On top of the tower that made up the chunin exam building, a shadow clone of the Hokage Sarutobi watched over the battle.</p><p>“It seems the will of fire is strong in this generation…I wonder if she and Naruto will finally lead the boy to a new sense of himself.”</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Beginnings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jentori starts her training under a new Sensei.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>In front of the Hokages office, 3 days after the preliminary exams</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jentori breathed quietly to not appear nervous. This is not something very natural for her, as she is very good at keeping calm and steady in most situations. But right now, Guy was presenting her request to the Hokage! She never thought that her Sensei would carry it this high; she thought he would ask Sensei Kakashi from team 7, who was apparently a master on the subject, or any of the other Jonin. Now the Hokage himself would look for a teacher, and that thought was a bit embarrassing to her. The other students surely found their teachers more quickly.</p>
<p>Neji was off to train intensely with Hiashi; they had a night-long discussion after their sparring fight, in which they seemed to resolve some of their long-standing issues, and while it is not the end of this particular conflict, she was happy to see improvements. Sasuke Uchiha trained with the aforementioned Kakashi, Shikamaru trained with his dad; and then there was Lee.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>A couple hours after the end of the preliminary exams</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Right after everything was finished, Jentori ran off to see Hinata. Her tears fell on the bandages around her chest while Hinata tried to calm her, but for a few minutes, it was Jentori that was unable to control herself, no, not willing to hide her feelings, to let them wash over her and cleanse her mind. Hinata was the only one who knew this side of her, and to see her kind cousin so beaten up by one of her own family members was an experience she never thought she would have to see.</p>
<p>She told her all about her sparring fight with Neji. And just as she expected, Hinata understood the pain that he had to endure as well, why her words enraged him so much - and she commended Jentori on taking action. She saw that the medication started to work on Hinata, but she still stayed with her and started to read for her from a book filled with small poems, just like she did when they were younger, until Hinata finally went to sleep, smiling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Later, Jentori stood quietly next to Lees bed. The medic-nin said that the injuries he withstood were quite harsh. Unusual feelings of anger rose in Jentori after she thought back to the red haired Suna-nin that finished Lee off so brutally, crushing his arm and leg in the process. These very wounds now could seal his career, and there was nothing that could be done currently.</p>
<p>Guy weeped silently next to the bed, and Neji faced the windows, shaken, but not able to show his feelings properly. He was still in turmoil, but she could tell that he was also concerned about Lee.</p>
<p>“So there is nothing we can do? We will have to wait and see how his bones heal?”</p>
<p>The doctor nodded, seemingly unnerved by this thought. Of course, he was a professional and probably saw this on a regular basis, but still - it struck a nerve in her before she reminded herself that he had no part in the hand dealt to Lee.</p>
<p>“Its not everyday that this happens in a preliminary exam, but this kind of wound is very difficult to heal. The small bone fractures and pieces went into different parts of his flesh - if he is unlucky, they will merge with the flesh and cause a lot of pain down the line. We will enhance his natural healing abilities with chakra, and if everything works out, his body may take care of the scattered pieces so that his leg and arm gain full functionality back.”</p>
<p>Worry showed in her eyes, but for today, no more tears escaped her eyes. She felt Guys hand on her shoulder, and his gentle pressing down on it meant much to her, to see that even through his pain he made sure all of his students are ok.</p>
<p>“Thank you, doc. Your work here is very appreciated.” With a small nod, the man vanished through the entrance.</p>
<p>“Let us leave him now to rest and come back tomorrow to see how he is doing. In the meantime, we will discuss your training schedule for the next few weeks, and your special request Jentori.”</p>
<p>Neji rose an eyebrow, but said nothing. She herself however felt a tiny bit of excitement - as much as seemed appropriate in this setting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Back in front of the Hokages office</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The office doors opened again, revealing Guys smiling face.</p>
<p>“He said he found another teacher! Meet him at training place 13, there you can explain your ideas to him, which by the way were greatly appreciated by the Hokage! Sarutobi was quite impressed with your fight, so I think you are in luck today!”</p>
<p>Jentori felt herself getting red. Well, now the Hokage surely knew of her existence quite well. She admired the man quite a bit; ever since he gave a demonstration of ninjutsu in the academy on their first day. To think that he would pick a teacher for her was quite honouring, but she did not feel like she deserved this much attention. Still, she thanked Guy profusely for his care and made her way to training place 13.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>————————</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She waited on the small sand pit in the middle of the training place. It opened up to a small forest; like all areas designed for training, there was likely a small river somewhere inside it and various terrains to practice all kinds of jutsu.</p>
<p>“Quite intriguing, to have somebody of the Hyuga clan try to combine their techniques with nature transformation.”</p>
<p>She freezed. She did not feel anyone approaching and turned around quickly on her heels - and let out a very unlike-her squeal of surprise.</p>
<p>In front of her stood Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage of the Leaf village in his traditional white-red robes with the big, pointed hat. His hands disappeared under his robe, and he had a smirk on his face.</p>
<p>She bowed quickly. “Sir Hokage, I am very honoured. If I may ask, have you, eh, found time for my request?” A little trail of sweat ran down her back. This situation was quickly overwhelming her.</p>
<p>“Well yes, Sensei Guy surely told you about the capable shinobi I found for you. Quite a master, I must say; I heard he learned it from the previous Kage themselves…”</p>
<p>Her face matched the colour of her eyes as she started to understand.</p>
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